Etymologies

(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

French sacristian, Latin sacrista, from Latin sacer. See sacred, and compare sexton. (Wiktionary)

Examples

But no more than the sacristan is the hemp-dresser gifted solely with the desire of frightening; he loves to make people laugh; he is sarcastic and sentimental at need, when love and marriage are to be sung.

What followed was seen by only one person, that is, the sacristan's wife, a big, hard-faced woman with a faint mustache and a wart on her chin, who sat by the great column near the door dispensing holy water out of a cracked saucer and whining for pennies.

Mr. Moya alternates chapters of Haydée's diary with the comic misadventures of her son Clemen and his cousin Jimmy, both on the run from the regime, as they attempt to escape the country, shifting disguises—housemaid, priest, sacristan, livestock traders—and getting lost in a labyrinthine mangrove swamp.

The sacristan of the choir prepares a cope and seven black stoles for the seven senior canons, who repair to the high altar, preceded by two acolytes bearing the Cross which is veiled in black, with the candles extinguished, in sign of mourning.